11. “Review of Eagleton’s Why Marx Was Right”

Abstract: This article is a critical review of Terry Eagleton’s latest publication, Why Marx Was Right (2011). Eagleton, one of the more celebrated Marxist literary critics in academia, presents his readers with a manifesto of Marxian individualism for the budding theoreticians of market socialism. This book represents Eagleton’s latest sally from the cloisters of stuffy English departments into the realms of economic theory. I cover many of the book’s most important talking points, debate his primary theses with ample counterpoints, and probe Eagleton’s vision of the socialist future from an Austrian angle to see where the author succeeds and falls short of his mark.

Comments

What an appropriate topic for the times. Sadly, academia celebrates Marx, instead of understanding his ideas have led to such economic destruction. It’s also disappointing to know that so many people have been brainwashed to believe in redistribution, a very UN-American concept.

Well, most people around the world don’t care if something is un-American, nor should they — so let me offer a small correction to your comment by stating that it’s disappointing to know that so many people have been brainwashed to believe in redistribution, a very inhumane concept.

I don’t think that Garrett was trying to infer that because something is un-american that the entire world should reject it. It is quite possible that Garrett is an American, and as such this qualifier is important for an American. While this distinction is not the best, as you pointed out – it is still extremely valid for American audiences.